1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of smoking materials and accessories. More specifically the present invention relates to a retaining and retracting apparatus for a smoking material ignition device such as an ordinary cigarette lighter. The essential elements of the apparatus include a holder for engagingly receiving a lighter so that the flame producing end of the lighter is exposed and a housing for releasibly receiving the holder which contains a spring-biased retractable cord interconnecting the holder and housing. The housing mounts to a belt, to a building wall, boats, automobiles, etc., to an ashtray or to a floor stand which may include an ashtray.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Over the years several variations of holders for cigarette lighters have been developed. In general these holders each have included a cord on a spring-biased spool within a housing which clips onto an article of clothing. The cord is connected to the lighter and the cord retracts the lighter to the housing when released after use.
Lewis, U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,169, issued on Dec. 4, 1984, discloses a cigarette lighter securing accessory. The spring housing of Lewis is an elongate cup having the cord spool and spring in its lower end and space within its upper end to receive the retracted lighter. The housing has a clip for securing to an article of clothing. The lighter snaps into a shallow cup tied to the end of the cord. A problem with Lewis is that no provision is made for mounting to convenient stationary items such as ashtrays or to a floor stand. Another problem is that, even if such provision had been disclosed, the lighter is fully accessible to very young children.
Sanford, U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,354, issued on May 22, 1990, teaches a retractable cigarette lighter holder. The housing of Sanford is similar to a tape measure housing, and has a clothing engagement clip on one face. The lighter is releasibly received in a spring clip at the end of a cord wound on a spool within the housing and biased with a coil spring to retract the lighter into a notch in the housing forward end. Jacob, U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,274, issued on Jun. 25, 1991, reveals a holding device for a lighter which is very similar to that of Sanford. The spring and spool housing is essentially the same as that of a tape measure, except that a cup structure extends outwardly around the cord passing opening in the housing. The cup structure releasibly receives the lighter upper end to hold it in place against the housing when retracted. The remainder of the lighter is exposed for gripping by a person when the lighter is to be used. For Sanford and Jacob, the problems of Lewis are again presented.
Bercik, U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,532, issued on Feb. 6, 1990, discloses a retractable lighter apparatus similar to those of Sanford and Jacob, but additionally providing a lighter receiving cup separate from the spring housing. The spring housing and the lighter receiving cup each include a clothing engaging spring clip. The cup remains open and accessible to children at all times, as in Lewis.
Kankkunen, U.S. Pat. No. 3,907,256, issued Sep. 23, 1975, teaches a device for lowering persons and loads. Kankkunen is in some ways similar to the lighter retracting inventions described above, but is evidently built on a larger scale to retract and lift heavier items than cigarette lighters. Kankkunen offers no solutions to the problems presented by Lewis.
Other references, cited in the parent application, include Carleton, U.S. Pat. No. 823,761, issued on Jun. 19, 1908 for a harness support; Koster, U.S. Pat. No. 1,443,993, issued on Feb. 6, 1923 for an automobile lamp and cigar lighter; Morrison, U.S. Pat. No. 1,465,281, issued on Aug. 21, 1923 for a key chain reel; Horvath, U.S. Pat. No. 1,728,862, issued on Sep. 17, 1929 for a smoker's cabinet; Smithson, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 1,829,161, issued on Oct. 27, 1931 for a reel; Lummis, U.S. Pat. No. 2,732,148, issued on Jan. 24, 1956 for a retracting reel; Ryan, U.S. Pat. No. 2,860,842, issued on Nov. 18, 1958 for a wind up reel means for anchor lines; Zelnick, U.S. Pat. No. 2,904,282, issued on Sep. 15, 1959 for a spring reel measuring tape; Quenot, U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,670, issued on Jul. 13, 1976 for a security key-ring; Zuehsow, U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,377, issued on Apr. 5, 1988 for a remote control holder; Barrus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,809, issued on Sep. 4, 1990 for a microphone retrieval device; and Leyden, U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,183, issued on Sep. 21, 1993 for a security device for a hand-held remote control.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a cigarette lighter retraction apparatus which includes the essential elements of a retraction spring retaining housing, a retraction cord and a lighter engaging structure, but for which the lighter engaging structure is a holder which engages the lighter securely and over a substantial portion of the lighter surface so that the lighter cannot be manually released.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus in which the housing and holder latch together so that a young child will not understand how to release the lighter.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which includes ashtray and floor stand mounted variations and which is easy to use and is aesthetically pleasing.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, sturdy and reliable.